Is it Hard? Or Do You Just Don' Wanna?

Amy Hoy

October 19, 2010

Is building a product hard? Maybe. Which part of it?

Committing to a schedule, doing the research, and serving a need that actually exists? Is that hard? Is reading books and forums hard? Is tabulating common themes in a spreadsheet hard? Is revisiting it twice a week hard?

No, that’s not hard. That’s don’t wanna.

Having the tough conversations with partners you need to part ways with…

…creating and sticking to a blogging schedule…

…taking advantage of the millions of opportunities that cross your path…

…sitting down for a couple hours, offline, and brainstorming how to increase your product’s reach by 10, 50, 100 customers…

No. Those are don’t wanna. Not hard. Hard would be, oh, I don’t know. How about growing up as a transgendered teen in rural India? That’s hard.

Hard means a real problem. Hard means that you can apply your full effort to it, in every way you can think of, for an extended length of time, and still lose. Hard means the requirement of delicate skills or expensive tools that are very tricky to acquire. Hard means a complete and utter lack of resources.

Not a lack of resourcefulness — that’s don’t wanna.

The real secret that’s stopping you from being an entrepreneur is this: You don’t wanna.

You’re not “showing up.” You’re not putting in the effort. You’re not laying down tracks you can chug along, faster and faster. You’re not devouring every resource that will teach you how. You’re not even going to the public library.

You’re not applying your full effort to it, in every way you can think of, for an extended length of time.

But let me give it to you straight: Nothing will fix you, but you.

No Magical Business Prince is going to waltz into your cube farm one day and deliver upon you an entrepreneurial liplock you’ll never forget. There’s only you, and what you do with your don’t wannas.

There is no single moment where you suddenly tip from being a hard-working schmuck to a successful entrepreneur. It’s just you, moving your damn feet, one step at a time.

It may never be “easy.”

But, luckily for us, it will almost never be hard.

How do you make your first sale?

Follow our FREE roadmap from $0 to $10k and start your product business one small, achievable win at a time.

When you subscribe, you’ll also get biz advice, design rants, and stories from the trenches once a week (or so). We respect your email privacy.